


She's a Woman

by montynavarrno



Series: The Hamfam goes to college [19]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Coming Out, Panic Attacks, Trans Character, mentions of abuse, or at least this story is because seriously tho this is gonna get heavy, please read the notes before you read the story, the rape tag is for mentions of rape, today i'm writing angst, violent transphobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 10:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7840798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/montynavarrno/pseuds/montynavarrno
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aaron Burr's name was spelled wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She's a Woman

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, you'll have to pry all of my trans characters out my cold dead hands. That being said, I usually see Burr portrayed as FTM, which is great and I love it. It just kind of sucks that honestly the only character I can think of off the top of my head as being portrayed as MTF is Lafayette. I'm here to fix that. All trans Burr head canons are good and pure.
> 
> I'm here to make those hcs very angsty. Usually the co-author of this universe is the one to write angst. I'm to here fuck that general rule over. 
> 
> Also the title is stolen from a Beatles song. The lyrics have nothing to do with the story, it's just a good title.
> 
> WARNINGS:  
> I'm not going to sugarcoat this. Burr's uncle talks openly about how he would murder trans people. It's also heavily implied that he was abusive, and that abuse is brought up briefly. William Paterson is a nasty nasty man, and it's stated that he rapes Burr. There is no graphic depiction of rape, but there are mentions of it. If you find anything else in here that needs to be tagged, please let me know immediately. Thank you.

Aaron Burr's name was spelled wrong.

On every official document, it was spelled wrong. Every card sent had the wrong spelling. 

It wasn't always spelled wrong.

Before the deaths of Aaron Burr Sr, and his wife Esther, it wasn't spelled wrong.

Or maybe it was.

Burr didn't know.

What Burr did know is that Aaron wasn't even remotely correct when it came the spelling. 

After all, Ava was much shorter than Aaron.

* * *

 

 Ava didn't know when she first realized she was trans. It basically hit her like it was a semi-truck coming at her while she was trying to merge onto the highway. And much like the simile, it fucking terrified her. 

Ava's guardians, her uncle Timothy Edwards and his wife Rhoda, were not very accepting of the LGBT+ community. And by not very accepting, Ava meant completely intolerant and would likely throw her out of the house if they knew.

Then that changed one evening at dinner when Ava was twelve.

The Edwards family was very religious. Ava was expected to go to church every Sunday, pray before every meal, and pray before she went to bed. She was also expected to read a passage from the Bible every night.

And if she didn't, there were consequences. Severe ones.

And that night at dinner made everything worse. 

It was something about bathrooms. Ava wasn't really paying attention. Then she heard the word trans.

"These transgendered people are ruining the morals of our Christian nation. If I saw one of them, I wouldn't hesitate to get my gun and shoot them. They can't bring their sins into America. We're a Christian nation."

It was bad luck for Ava that this conversation was happening as they were cleaning up from their dinner. And it was also bad luck that made her impulsively speak out. "But uncle, we have a separation of church and state. We can't be a Christian nation. It's in the Constitution."

The next day, Ava told everyone that she had gotten the bruise on her cheek from falling down the stairs.

She also had a resolution to talk less and smile more.

* * *

 

College was supposed to be a way for her to get away from all of the bad.

And for a while, it was. She started going out with Theodosia Bartow.

It didn't really matter to them that Theodosia was also sort of going out with another boy. He was in Georgia anyway. It was easy enough for her to break up with him.

Theodosia was also the first person she ever came out to.

Well, she was the first one that counted anyway. The other one wasn't a planned coming out. It was a mistake from both parties involved.

For some reason, Ava trusted her immensely. Maybe it was because she was totally willing to break up with her current boyfriend for her. Or maybe it was the way she cared about everyone. Maybe it was the way that she talked openly about how her cousin was trans and she helped him out in whatever ways possible, whether it was emotional support or helping him find a style he liked.

A lot of it was probably that last part.

It took Ava nearly two weeks to build up the courage to ask Theodosia to come over to her place. By the time she arrived, Ava was on the verge of a panic attack. Before she could lapse completely into the attack, Ava blurted out "I'm trans." and then promptly started crying and shaking.

It took her nearly two hours before Theodosia could get another word out of her. She didn't mind. It was clear that this was something that had been bothering her partner for a while.

Eventually, Ava calmed down. When Theodosia asked for her name and pronouns, she said "Ava. She and her." and then cried again. 

Theodosia held her the entire time.

* * *

 

Theodosia called her Ava in private.

Ava cried the first ten times she heard that name outside of her head.

It was kind of like walking a tightrope. Any small thing could send her plunging.

* * *

 

The breakup was a mutual thing. They both knew they worked better as friends. Besides, Ava didn't really want to date until she had this whole gender thing figured out. 

After the breakup, she started studying more with a TA named William Paterson. She was very excited. It was really supposed to help get law career started.

One night they were going over one of her papers late in the evening. She had gone over to Paterson's house, because his office had recently been redone and the fumes hadn't cleared out yet. 

Eventually they felt like they had reached a stopping point. Ava felt very pleased with what they had accomplished. She smiled at Paterson. He smiled back. "You're very pretty when you smile," said Paterson, reaching across the couch and putting his hand on her knee. 

Ava flinched a little and pulled her knee away. "Um... thank you," she said, unsure of how to proceed. 

"We should celebrate," Paterson said abruptly. He stood and went towards his kitchen. "You've got an excellent paper. It's sure to get you on the accelerated track for law." He came back with a bottle of wine.

Ava stood up warily and went for the door. "I can't. I have class tomorrow."

Paterson blocked her way. "I insist."

* * *

 

Ava didn't go to class the next day. Instead, she showed up at Theodosia's place.

When Theo opened the door, Ava said "He called me his sweet girl." and then fell into the room.

Ava requested a class transfer so that she wouldn't have to be around Paterson. Theodosia had wanted to pursue it farther. "That's rape, Ava."

Ava flinched as she heard the word. "Yeah. I know it is. But they think I'm a guy. They wouldn't believe me. And they'd be even less inclined to believe me if they knew I was trans. This is the best thing for me to do."

It was ignoring the problem. But it worked. And she got her revenge anyway, when she prosecuted Paterson for rape ten years later in defense of another girl. It was sweet justice.

* * *

 

Aaron Burr was listed as the father for Theodosia Schuyler-Bartow.

Somehow, Ava couldn't even care about that. Little Theo was too important for her to be worried over misgendering on a legal document. Hell, only she and Theo knew it was misgendering in the first place.

* * *

 

A year after Little Theo was born, it was too much.

Ava didn't know what caused it. Maybe it was one too many times of being hearing the phrase "Get a picture of Theo with Aaron." Maybe she had too many emotions piled up inside her. Maybe she finally realized that these people considered her their friend and she knew they wouldn't judge her. Either way, after Eliza said "Make sure you get a picture of Theo with Aaron" Ava snapped and said "It's Ava."

The room fell silent. All of the adults were looking at Ava. She started to wonder if she had made a mistake. And then James Madison said "Welcome to the club, Ava."

Lafayette beamed at her. "What are your pronouns?"

Ava relaxed. It was a spur of the moment decision, but it had worked out. "She/her pronouns. From now on. Even outside of the group."

Theodosia looked at her. "Are you sure?"

Ava nodded. "I've known this since I was twelve. My uncle can't do anything to me anymore. It's time I got to be myself."

Ava Burr didn't often take a stand for herself. She had always kept her plans close to her chest. It felt good to let some of them out into the open.

* * *

 

Two years later, Ava Burr had changed every legal document to reflect who she really was. It felt good. 

Ava Burr was happy.

**Author's Note:**

> well that was a journey. I hope you all enjoyed this. It kind of upsets me that I made Ava so closeted. I could do a lot more with her during college and her interacting with the Hamfam. But actually it works perfectly because there's more trans kids in the next generation so actually I'm not that upset.


End file.
